Recovering the forgotten women writers who shaped American cinema stories
Over the past seven years, what began as a simple spreadsheet grew into a mission: to document how American women writers profoundly shaped Hollywood cinema during an era when they were systematically excluded from directing roles. This database reveals a hidden creative pipeline where women's stories, characters, and perspectives reached millions of moviegoers through literary adaptation.
Between 1910 and 1960, as women directors first flourished and then virtually disappeared from Hollywood, studios turned again and again to novels and short stories by American women writers. These adaptations weren't occasional—they were a cornerstone of the studio system. Yet today, most of these writers have been forgotten, their contributions to cinema erased from popular memory.
This project is part of a broader feminist historiographical effort to recontextualize women's contributions to early cinema and classical-era Hollywood. While we often hear that women "didn't make movies" during the studio era, the truth is far more complex. Women contributed enormously as writers whose works provided the source material for hundreds of films. Some had their works adapted 10 or more times—they were household names in their day, yet are virtually unknown now.
This database focuses specifically on:
These boundaries allow us to trace clear patterns: which women writers Hollywood repeatedly turned to, how quickly their works were adapted, and how literary genres transformed into film genres. By maintaining this focus, we can provide concrete evidence of women's continued participation in Hollywood's creative economy despite systemic barriers.
This project emerged from my research on Gene Stratton-Porter and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings for my dissertation. As I discovered Hollywood adaptations of their work, I began noticing a pattern—American women writers were everywhere in early Hollywood, yet their names had largely vanished from film history. What started as casual note-taking evolved into systematic documentation of this forgotten chapter of cinema.
The database now lives on multiple platforms:
The database can be searched by film title, author name, year, genre, and more. Each entry includes available information about the film, its source work, and the author. Where possible, we link to the AFI Catalog and other authoritative sources.
When citing this database in academic work, please use:
This is an active, growing resource. Current plans include:
This database thrives on collaboration. If you have corrections, additions, or citations to contribute, please get in touch. Together, we can ensure these women writers and their contributions to cinema are remembered.